IT all boils down to self-belief, said national coach S. Selvarajoo who has placed his faith in top national singles player Jawariah Noordin. Jawariah has performed well in several ITF circuits abroad and it is high time for Selvarajoo to raise her level of play.

She had a rough start in the US$10,000 (RM35,000) Jakarta tournament. Despite defeating Thai lass Siriporn Phakamad 6-1, 6-1 in Round 1, the Penangite was forced to retire in the next round against host player Sandy Gumulya (3-6, 6-0, retired).

Jawariah’s fortunes changed for the better in the US$10,000 Solo tournament. She first beat China’s Yang Pang 6-2, 6-0 in the first round and later beat fourth seeded Nungnadda Wannasuk of Thailand 7-6, 6-3 in the second. Ranked world No 960, Jawariah’s winning streak came to a premature end when she lost in the quarterfinals to fifth seeded Indonesian Lavinia Tananta 6-4, 6-2.

but why hold the event at Putra indoor stadium which is not purpose built for tennis when we already have the National Tennis Centre at Jalan Duta? isn’t it like holding Wimbledon at Royal Albert Hall? Upgrading the National Tennis Centre to ATP standards would be a more visionary option since we are hosting the ATP World Tour for 5 YEARS, and the upgrade can be permanently enjoyed by Malaysians for years…

The 2009 ATP World Tour promises to be an exciting season of men’s tennis. Changes have been introduced to create a healthier schedule for players and to make the sport easier to follow for fans. A number of improvements have been implemented and here’s a look at some of them:

* New Structure: New tiers of tournaments have been created — ATP World Tour Masters 1000, ATP World Tour 500 and ATP World Tour 250 — leading to the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London where the ATP World Tour Champion will be officially crowned. The number represents the points awarded to the winner in each respective tournament.

KUALA LUMPUR, 26 June (Bernama) — Malaysia has achieved a milestone in tennis when Kuala Lumpur won the right to host the prestigious ATP World Tour 250 for a period of five years from this year until 2013.

After a highly competitive bidding process against three other cities in Asia, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak Friday officially announced that the inaugural Malaysian Open Kuala Lumpur would be held at the 16,000-capacity indoor Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil from Sept 26 till Oct 4.

I was grinning to my Cheshire cat self on Stan Wawrinka’s win, after an enjoyable multi-tasking ‘watch-tennis-slash-tweet-tweet-tweet’ session, when Monte Carlo turned Wimbledon with the rain covers preventing Rafa from getting Lapentti in a twist.
Channel switched to rain-free Charleston, South Carolina (repeat with twang please) and the WTA Family Circle Cup. Venus vs Lisicki. Hmpffhh. Ok ten minutes max then its back to Club Med.
But I couldn’t take my eyes of green clayerSabine Lisicki as she slayed the mighty Venus, playing ‘totally in the zone’ tennis. 6-4, 7-6. It was like watching Maria Sharapova win her first Wimbledon. Germany now has a new Graff.

Sabine Lisicki defeated Venus on the green clay of Charleston. And then bageled Vesnina. And outplayed Bartoli. Now in the Finals!

UPDATE 1 : Sabine Lisicki swept Elena Vesnina of Russia aside with a 6-4, 6-0 win. I would like to see Sabine win this tournament as I reckon she’s ready to take on the tour! Go Sabine!

Also the player I picked to win, Vera Zvonereva, retired with an injured ankle during her 3rd round match against V. Razzano. Extremely unfortunate for Vera. Hope she recovers before Roland Garros.

Marion Bartoli of France defeated Melinda Czink of Hungary 6-4,6-1. Now we will have Marion vs Sabine!

UPDATE 2 : Sabine Lisicki outplayed Marion Bartoli in straight sets 6-3, 6-1, to set up a ‘battle of the teens’ with Caroline Wozniacki. Caroline had the tougher match having to fight off a determined Dementieva and her own nerves in 3 sets 6-4, 5-7, 7-5.

This could be the start of new final match-ups in the very near future!

Vera Zvonereva Injury Update via tweets

Vera Zvonereva injures ankle at Family Circle Cup. Get well real soon.

Sania Mirza, currently ranked 100th, dug in and took Family Circle Cup second seed Venus Williams to 3 sets in an exciting 2 and a half hour Round 2 match.
Venus Williams : “These kind of matches are great to pull out, I’ve been in these situations before, so I rely on that.”

While Williams struggled, it was a big day for fellow American Melanie Oudin, who advanced to the third round with a 7-5, 6-0 victory over No 29 Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada, seeded ninth. Oudin will face 13th-ranked Marion Bartoli of France in the next round of the $1 million Family Circle Cup.

Bloomberg.com reports today that PepsiCo & Maria Sharapova have not renewed their two-year endorsement deal. Sharapova dropped out of the top 50 because of her on-going shoulder injury.

In January 2007, Maria Sharapova became the first tennis player to represent PepsiCo’s Gatorade sports drink and Tropicana fruit juice brands worldwide. That contract was signed after the Russian won the 2006 U.S. Open and has expired at the end of last year. It is rumoured that the deal is worth close to US$1 million annually.

Small change to the highest-paid female athlete in the world I guess. Maria’s other endorsement deals are with Tag Heuer, Nike, Tiffany & Co and Cole Haan. What about Canon, I wonder.